Community Health is Important to Business
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Understand why community health is important to business.
The U.S. health disadvantage has been growing for decades. Working-age adults have suffered.
Employers share the burden as chronic diseases, such as obesity and diabetes, are becoming more common among workers and their dependents. Poor health generates costs for employers, such as greater healthcare expenses. And higher rates of disability, absences for illness and medical appointments, and presenteeism (working while sick) generate indirect costs that reduce workforce productivity and contribute to declines in labor force participation.
Unmet vital conditions and associated lack of educational and economic opportunities shape the health, wealth, and well-being of Americans; drive the U.S. health disadvantage; and raise costs for businesses.
For more information and citations, explore these CHEP resources:
- What Is the U.S. Health Disadvantage? (fact sheet)
- What Causes the U.S. Health Disadvantage? (fact sheet)
- Why Is the U.S. Health Disadvantage Important to Businesses? (fact sheet)
- The U.S. Health Disadvantage: Implications for Businesses and Employers (video)
This brief animated video introduces the U.S. health disadvantage and the seven vital conditions that shape health, wealth, and well-being, and it describes how businesses can contribute to those conditions. - Community Health and Economic Prosperity: The Problem, the Causes, the Opportunities, and the Solutions—At a Glance (brief)
This brief defines the U.S. health disadvantage and identifies what businesses can do to be part of a solution that strengthens businesses and improves the health of Americans. - Community Health and Economic Prosperity: A Digest of the Surgeon General’s Report for Business Leaders (digest)
Intended for business readers on the go, the Business Digest succinctly repurposes, both textually and visually, the main ideas, key takeaways, and recommendations from the full report.